Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Houston mayor Annise Parker just took the wind out of the religious right boat S.S. We Are Being Persecuted.

Houston Mayor Annise Parker announced Wednesday the city is
withdrawing subpoenas sent to pastors who led opposition to the city’s
Equal Rights Ordinance.

Attorneys for the city came under fire from right-wing groups after
they subpoenaed the pastors’ sermons as part the city’s defense of a
lawsuit aimed at repealing the ordinance.

In response to the backlash, Parker directed the attorneys to remove
the reference to “sermons” from the subpoenas. But on Wednesday, the
mayor went a step further, withdrawing the subpoenas entirely. Parker said she made the decision to withdraw the subpoenas after
meeting with two groups of pastors on Tuesday to discuss the issue.

“It is extremely important to me to protect our equal rights ordinance
from repeal,”
Parker said at a press conference Wednesday. “We believe we can
vigorously defend the city of Houston in this petition and that we can
do it without the subpoenas.”

Parker was not aware of the original subpoenas but bore the brunt of the backlash. Amongst other things, including ugly references to her lesbian sexual orientation, her office was inundated with 100 to 500 Bibles. Parker said she will donate the Bibles.

Unfortunately, I doubt this move will stop any momentum the religious right is hoping to milk from the fracas. Several groups, led by the Family Research Council, will be holding a rally on Sunday entitled I Stand Sunday.

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About Me

Alvin McEwen is 45-year-old African-American gay man who resides in Columbia, SC.
McEwen's blog, Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters, and writings have been mentioned by Americablog.com, Goodasyou.org, People for the American Way, PageOneQ.com, The Washington Post, Raw Story, The Advocate, Media Matters for America, Crooksandliars.com, Thinkprogress.org, Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish, Melissa Harris-Perry, The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell, Newsweek, The Daily Beast, The Washington Blade, and Foxnews.com.
In addition, he is also a past contributor to Pam's House Blend,Justice For All, LGBTQ Nation, and Alternet.org. He is a present contributor to the Daily Kos and the Huffington Post,
He is the 2007 recipient of the Harriet Daniels Hancock Volunteer of the Year Award and the 2010 recipient of the Order of the Pink Palmetto from the SC Pride Movement as well as the 2009 recipient of the Audre Lorde/James Baldwin Civil Rights Activist Award from SC Black Pride. In addition, he is a three-time nominee of the Ed Madden Media Advocacy Award from SC Pride.